Free Shipping via USPS Priority Mail!
Fat Sound's Take
Fuzz Aficionados agree that the Muff fuzzes are among the best vintage fuzz pedals ever created, but put any 10 of these Muff fans into a room together and within minutes an argument will break out as to which era is The Best era. Of the 90's, made-in-Russia units it's common to find proponents of the "Civil War" era pedals, but the "Tall Font Russian" units with their signature clear, present and more aggressive top-end, mean low-end growl and hollow mids also have their own support group. The Tall Font version is capable of very useable, slightly sizzling distortion tones as well as very thick, smooth lead tones. And a cool factoid is that you can run a moderate gain boost or overdrive pedal before the TFR and dial up its gain just to the point where it smooths out and further refines the TFR's already very useable fuzz. Where some fuzz units are radical, raunchy, special effects devices, like all of the best Muff's, Wren and Cuff's impeccable version of the mid-90's Russian Muff is a very useable pedal that you just might find yourself using as a primary distortion generator!
We clearly remember the release of the Tall Font, Russian units in the mid-90's and our amazement at how pedals with such......erm......funky.... build quality could actually sound so fantastic. Of course, like every generation of Muffs, these Tall Font pedals varied greatly from batch to batch and even from pedal to pedal (in '94 or '95 Fat Sound's owner literally lined up about 20 of these units in an attempt at finding just the right one).
With the Tall Font Russian, Wren and Cuff has once again shown their devotion to building a meticulously accurate and consistent recreation of an exceptional sounding version of the Tall Font and they've done so with a more pedal-board-friendly footprint, without housings you can see light through, flaking paint, loose battery doors or the risk of cracked circuit boards due to low-quality, board mounted plastic jacks.
Another Winner from Wren and Cuff!
From Wren and Cuff
I have literally hand-wired (meaning point-to-point, no proper circuit board, on perf-board) over 150 muff and muff-related pedals in the early days of Wren and Cuff, then many many more after getting proper PCB boards. Why I mention this is because as you might imagine, my ears have become very accustomed to the nuances and intricacies of these pedals.
I’ve spent many hours digging for some slight difference between a vintage pedal I love and one I’m building for one reason or another to be sure I could truly nail the sound. I’ve had my employees flat out saying, “Sorry man, I just can’t hear a difference”, then giving me the, man, this guy is crazy look. Why I mention this is to say that after all the muff type pedal builds under my belt, The Tall Font Russian was the toughest pedal to nail. Why did I choose the Tall Font S****K version to recreate? After a conversation via email with an acquaintance who plays in a very successful band this quest began. In his words, after being asked about his affection for these pedals he said: “Yet to find anything close. And (after) hearing a lot of players, rarely do I like their distorted/fuzz sounds. I really think there is a reason the s****ks are so collectable. I prefer the first series green ones with the screws on the side. The series after this had them on the top. I don’t like the civil wars or any others besides the green ones. In a pinch, I’ll use a screws on the top one, but it has to be green.”
I was curious why he didn’t follow the standard, civil war muffs are the best Russian muffs belief. After some investigation I found that they’re very, very, similar in tone, parts, and values. Very close. But to me, the highs are more present and clear in the Tall Fonts resulting in an openness in the highs unique to this pedal. They’re generally not as dark sounding, which gives them a slight gritty edge not found in the war muffs. Some dislike this trait but to me there is a rudeness to them that sets the TF’s apart from the C-War.
As usual with our muff-type pedals, I found that transistor selection was very important. After removing the transistors from vintage units then testing the gains I found some inconsistencies between vintage units. After some obsessive listening tests I went with one particularly sweet sounding pedal and matched the gains as closely as possible using a mix of trannies. I also was surprised to find an important biasing resistor and a capacitor that were a much different value than stated on the components and schematic. Discovering this helped to find that sound I was looking for!
One of my favorite traits is a “boxy” quality to the sound that was the toughest thing to reproduce. Wish I had a better way to describe it, but “boxy” is what it is to my ears.
It almost sounded right, but I couldn’t get a certain growl I heard on the vintage pedal and the boxy thing still wasn’t quite right..Finally, I tested the pots and found the actual vs. stated pot values were over 30% “off” in some cases. IMO this inconsistancy is partly responsible for one unit sounding particularly sweet and another sounding so, so. In other words, those absolutely crappy pots created a happy accident. After custom tweaking those pots, I realized that this was one of the things responsible for keeping the low-mid range from getting to mucky and is also a factor in the more over-drive type quality these Russians can produce. I found the growl! The kooky values found can’t be purchased as such so we have to mod each pedal’s pots ourselves to get the desired values.
As far as I know, we’re the only company that goes as far as to modify the pots for a S****k clone.
This boxy-growl also helps make them particularly great on bass, and fantastic for raunchy, less friendly guitar tones ala The Black Keys, White Stripes, Mars Volta, and many others seeking a nasty F-You snarl (not saying the afore mentioned bands use these exact pedals, just using their tones as a reference). With many other desirable muffers (and our Tri Pie 70’) the goal is warm, smooth and buttery, but the TFR has a different goal in mind. There is a growl and raunchy yet truly musical sound produced by these ugly green beasts. The lows have an overdrivey compression that keeps things tight, and the highs have a rich upper-harmonic thing going on that’ll make one understand the affection some have for this pedal. The mids have the standard muff-scoop but it is not as pronounced as some of the other generations. Add to that a less gainy/fuzzy tone overall and you end up with a unique muff with a character all its own. Good stuff.
Sadly, my quest for this tone resulted in a couple of butchered vintage pedals, but the end result was worth it.
The bummer about the vintage Tall Fonts? Cheap, cheap, cheap plastic jacks mounted to the circuit-board that beg to be given a hard knock resulting in a cracked circuit board. Equally cheap pots (knobs you turn) that feel flimsy, break easily, and barely hold the knobs in place making it rare to find one with all three original knobs. Non-true bypass tone-suck, no power supply jack, huge footprint, and heavy as hell round off the list of negatives the originals carried.
In short, they could be a big pain in the ass.
Features
- True hard-wire mechanical bypass
- Standard “Boss-style” 9VDC (-) tip power supply jack or 9V batt operated
- Small foot-print
- The best jacks available mounted off the circuit board
- Alpha pots
- NOS Daka-Ware Pointer Knobs
- Heavy duty non-relay hard wired bypass switch. The real true bypass
- Genuine USA Davies “Daka-ware” knobs
- Expert clean, tight, wiring that makes the insides just as beautiful as the outside
- Incredible attention to detail
- Lifetime, Trasferrable Warranty
So pickup your Tall Font Russian and get all the positives and none of the negatives!
Customer Comments
Hey Stu,
Got to try out the pedal tonight and I love it!
Took me about 2 minutes to dial in the same sweet spot that I use on the vintage Muff (Mid-90's Tall Font).
It's obvious that the Wren and Cuff guys went the extra mile to capture the vibe of the original pedal.
As usual, thanks for the guidance and great service.
Scott B.
Canada
This effect pedal has been tested under the extreme conditions of Stu's bedroom and has been found to meet the stringent requirements necessary to receive Fat Sound Guitar's seal of assurance.
Highly Recommended!™
[Review Note] Not every amplifier responds the same way with a given pedal. This review is based on running this particular pedal into two demo rigs. The first is a higher volume, 30+ watt, quad EL84, cathode biased Dr Z. Z- Wreck head with open-back 212 Cab (one Celestion Blue and one Celestion Gold). The second is the more around-the-house-friendly 19 watt, partial fixed bias, dual 6V6 Carr Sportsman 112 combo with adjustable 'headroom' features. Every amp differs in how it takes certain pedals, but these two amps are nearly polar opposites. If you are interested in how this pedal will work with your specific amp please call or email and we'll put it through its paces with your exact rig or as close to it as possible. |